No.34: Elementary School Jobs

A fifth grade was added at Joyner after my class completed the fourth grade. Prior to that time, Joyner students moved on to Milam Junior High for the fifth grade. We were saddened by not getting to move on to Milam, but we did have the opportunity to be the big kids at Joyner for two years. That meant that we got to serve two years in those important jobs that were reserved for the oldest and most responsible kids.

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I don’t think I was alone in thinking it was a huge treat to get to work in the school store in the morning before school, selling pencils, writing tablets, and notebook paper, and especially getting to make change. The school store was just a small table in the doorway of the supply closet in the principal’s office, but it was a real retail experience to us.

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Another important job was working in the school’s small library. Our job was to remove the book card and date stamp it and the little slip of paper inside the book cover. And of course we got to collect fines for overdue books.

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Those were important jobs and very desirable in cold weather, but the real prestige jobs were the outside jobs. Every morning, weather permitting of course, the chosen two who served on the flag patrol solemnly unfolded the flag, taking care not to let it touch the ground. They then connected the snap hooks through the flag’s grommets and ran the flag up the pole that stood in front of the school. One patrol member raised the flag and other stood at attention and saluted. I suppose, though I don’t remember, the procedure was repeated in reverse at the end of the school day.

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To be sure, flag patrol was an important and prestigious job, but the job that everyone looked forward to was serving on the safety patrol. First of all, you got to wear that white adjustable belt that ran diagonally across the chest and hooked around the waist with an impressive metallic clink. That belt with its tin badge conferred authority on the wearer, at least in his or her mind and in the minds of the kindergarteners and first graders. Two patrol members stood at posts near the street in front of the school and opened car doors for little kids whose moms brought them to school, all the while scanning the area like a Secret Service agent to make sure kids stayed on the sidewalks and out of the way of cars. The third patrol member was posted on the corner of Joyner and the little street that ran between the school and City Park, all the way to the Rockwell Youth Center. Children who walked to school from the neighborhoods in that direction had to wait for the patrol member to wade out into the crosswalk with his “Stop” flag and hold back the raging traffic. Of course there never was very much traffic on that little side street. The real traffic on Joyner was controlled by the smiling crossing guard in her blue police uniform. Ironically, her name was Mrs. Blue.

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I don’t know why my mother saved my safety patrol certificate, but I may be the only person of my generation who can document that I served in that revered corps. I display it proudly at the top of this entry.